NOVA Information Management School (NOVA IMS) is the School of Statistics and Information Management of Universidade NOVA de Lisboa. It was founded in 1989 in response to a large number of graduates who specialized in Information Management and the growing need for the use of new information technologies.
Today NOVA IMS provides education at the highest level to more than 1000 students including undergraduates, post-graduates, masters and PhD degree students.
NOVA IMS’s strategy for the medium term is to develop and expand its current academic and scientific projects whilst at the same time maintaining its values and strategic guidelines. The group of strategic components referred to as medium term objectives is wide and combines excellence in teaching, learning and research. It also includes a strengthening of partnerships with the community and the business world, improving the quality of students at entry level into our courses, creating a work environment which is motivating for all our employees, with a policy of continuous improvement management of NOVA IMS.
The medium term strategy of NOVA IMS is based on six components:
- Excellence in teaching and learning
NOVA IMS will continue to offer study programs of high quality in terms of contents, teaching staff and learning environment. We stimulate innovation and support initiatives aiming at market satisfaction, namely life-long learning and e-learning projects. Together with this, is the improvement of the performance of the teaching staff as well as the evaluation of the courses by the students. This is something that has been a regular feature at NOVA IMS since its beginning. As regards the learning environment, we encourage student participation in research projects and in international exchange programs. Expanding the current premises of NOVA IMS is absolutely necessary to be able to achieve the above mentioned targets.
- Excellence in research
NOVA IMS intends to increase the number of high level researchers, both assistants and full time, in its research centre. This objective can be achieved by expanding the Doctoral Programme and by incentives that encourage excellence in investigation. These two initiatives will contribute to a greater visibility of the research in recognized international scientific publications. The research centre will seek to increase the financial return from investigation and development contracts.
- Promoting partnerships
NOVA IMS will seek, in a balanced and sustainable way, to increase the participation of companies in AD NOVA IMS, namely with software producers in the area of information systems. Other partnerships, with similar and complementary institutions, are being developed involving the development of research projects and joint postgraduate courses, mainly with countries in the heart of the European Union and countries whose official language is Portuguese.
- Improving the quality of students at entry level
Improving the quality of students entering the courses in the first cycle (first degree) and second cycle (post-graduate and masters degrees) is necessary to guarantee the competitive feasibility of the courses. This objective will be achieved by implementing and improving the marketing. The objective is to systematically increase the number and quality of candidates in the next three years.
- Increase the motivation and professional quality of the staff
NOVA IMS intends to maintain a working environment which recognises, encourages and values quality , flexibility and dedication in the workplace. To this end, NOVA IMS has created a series of training opportunities and incentives for its staff.
- Transparency and efficiency in management
NOVA IMS is dedicated to effectively using available resources as well as maintaining high level of management responsibility. NOVA IMS will publish the results of an external audit in the daily press. NOVA IMS will continue to develop its integrated document management system for all sectors of the institution. At the same time, NOVA IMS will seek quality certification for its administrative services including the IT, financial, academic and documentation services. NOVA IMS Online will expand thus increasing access by senior management.
